But she has defied daunting medical odds - including a hole in the heart and a cyst on the brain - to celebrate her fifth birthday as a healthy, happy schoolgirl.

Mother Yvonne, of Moston, went into labour just 25 weeks into her pregnancy - a stage at which only 50 per cent of babies survive.

Courtney was born at North Manchester General Hospital weighing just 1lb 15oz.

After being switched to the special baby care unit at Hope Hospital, Salford, Courtney went from strength to strength and was finally allowed home at three months old. Yvonne, who also has a two-year-old daughter Chloe, said: "Doctors had warned me that Courtney could suffer serious health problems but she's grown into a normal, healthy girl, no different from any other girl her age."